Americans for the Arts has reinstituted the Americans for the Arts Emergency Relief Fundin response to the wildfires in Southern California. The leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in U.S. will give $20,000 to activate the fund, which will aid arts services affected by the fires.

The fund was begun shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to rebuild the arts in impacted communities, providing timely financial assistance to local institutions, individual artists and nonprofit groups. At its inception, the fund started with a contribution of $100,000 from Americans for the Arts' reserves.

"We are concerned about the well-being of many of our California residents; the devastation of a natural disaster like this extends beyond aesthetic destruction, impacting the quality of life, culture, and community of those in its wake," said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. "We are glad to be able to utilize the Emergency Relief Fund to ensure the rebuilding of the arts in the affected communities."

One-hundred percent of the donations to the Emergency Relief Fund will go directly to these efforts.